Kenosha Unified School District officials said it's always a tough call when snow is expected to come during the day, as opposed to overnight, because they have to rely on forecasting instead of what's on the ground.

In this case, they made the final decision to cancel shortly before 5:30 a.m.

The superintendent, transportation director and other district officials meet to determine how quickly school roads can be cleared and how easily kids who walk to school can make it in.

Unlike some districts, Kenosha tries not to have early-dismissal days. It opts either to have class or to cancel altogether.

"We try to avoid them as much as possible because it just doesn't work well with the amount of students that we have. Some smaller districts, they can handle that a little bit easier. But with 20,000-plus students, it just becomes a more difficult task," said Tanya Ruder of the Kenosha Unified School District.

Across the 21,000-student Racine School District, classes ended two hours early.

The day will still count as a school day in official tallies, so it won't have to be made up at the end of the year.

For district leaders, the discussion over how to handle the snow started early.

"In this case we knew it was coming. We started conversations yesterday afternoon into the evening," Racine Unified School District Communication Director Stacy Tapp said.